“Watch out, honey, here I come!” A female Bald Eagle joins her mate on a high tension power pole in Weld County, Colorado. This pair put on quite a show for me back in December. I haven’t had much luck lately finding the adult eagles and am growing frustrated. I just have to keep reminding myself that prime time here on the Colorado Front Range isn’t for another few weeks. The problem is that I am not a patient person. 😉
Bald Eagle poses with its breakfast
It is Freedom Friday and that means the images I post today, like every Friday, will be of our nation’s symbol. Certainly I have enough of a collection of images of these magnificent birds of prey to post images every day but I figure you all want to see other things sometimes. 😉
Today’s capture comes from the end of November in Longmont, Colorado. This pretty lady had snagged herself a nice meal and was preparing to eat it on what I have come to call the ‘dining room table tree’ – the spot her and her mate go to eat when they are in the area.
With most lakes and ponds in Colorado now frozen over, the eagles have spread out and are hunting open ground for Prairie Dogs and rabbits. Temperatures are very slowly beginning to rise and with any luck, in a few weeks, we will begin to see the eagles gather near the water as they prepare to head north for the summer.
Posing Pika
When I go to the high country, I always make time to pay these little ones a visit. They are so energetic and entertaining. This one was taking a very brief brake from gathering nesting material while at the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park back in August.
It is said this species of pika may become a victim of a warming climate. Studies suggest the American Pika is being driven to higher elevations in search of cooler temperatures. As it moves higher however, it could eventually run out of places to go.
Prairie Falcon enjoys Meadowlark for breakfast
I thought my photo day was done and had pointed my truck for home. About halfway there, I see a flurry of activity on a utility pole ahead and slow to take a closer look. Much to my delight I find a Prairie Falcon that had just snagged a Western Meadowlark and was preparing to dine on it.
The falcon wasn’t particularly comfortable with me being there but was hungry enough to tolerate my presence. Prairie Falcons are not very big but just as ferocious as any raptor, preferring to dine on smaller birds, oftentimes diving right into flocks and snatching their prey.
Scroll down to view the complete gallery.
A very focused Fox
Reaching back to last March for this image in what had to have been one of my favorite wildlife encounters of 2016. This handsome creature was relaxing in a friend’s backyard and he was kind enough to invite me over for a photo session with it.
For 20 minutes or so the two of us snapped away with the Fox giving us an amazing variety of poses, all the while not really caring that we were right there by it. Red Foxes aren’t really all that rare but it is rare to see them, let alone get this kind of quality time with one. Just an amazing encounter.
Red-winged Blackbirds establish roadblock
Cresting a small hill the other day I see a large dark mass across the road. It took me a few seconds to realize exactly what it was – a congregation of Red-winged Blackbirds. There were hundreds, probably thousands, of them there. This image only represents about a third of what was on the road and on each side of it. It was pretty nuts. During the winter these birds will gather like this in these massive flocks, oftentimes segregated by sex. In this case, the majority of these were females (brown colored).
Fantastic dark morph Ferruginous Hawk encounter
This was one fun encounter to say the least. Ferruginous Hawks are quite common this time of year however the dark morph variety is relatively rare.
I was lucky enough to come across this one on the back roads of Adams County, Colorado. It was kind enough to let me get some nice pictures of it posing and best of all, when it launched, it went in the absolutely perfect direction allowing me to get a nice launch and flight series. Lots of fun with an absolutely gorgeous bird.
Scroll down to view the complete series of images from this encounter.
Big bull Moose relaxes in the shade
It is Moose Monday! On a long ATV ride in Colorado’s high country this past summer, we kept coming across wet areas with lots of willows and I was telling my family, “There have to be moose here.” Returning to camp what do we find? Two bulls and two cows grazing in the mid-afternoon.
I didn’t have my ‘good’ camera so we raced the seven mile back to camp then my wife and I raced back and thankfully the four were still there. With all the motorized traffic they were a bit apprehensive but this big guy clearly wasn’t too bothered by the attention.
Taken in Grand County in Arapaho National Forest, Colorado.
"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam…"
“Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam…” That’s right! I already have a home right near where that happens. 😉 I’ve gotten higher quality pics of similar scenes at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge but I never tire of seeing it or taking pictures of it. A recent snow covered the landscape in white from the plains to those imposing Rocky Mountains. Just gorgeous!
Young White-tailed Deer buck out for an early morning stroll
It was a cold, frosty morning this past Monday but the cold only seems to make the wildlife even more active. On this day the deer were out in droves, grazing on the plains as the sun rose and temperatures finally started to rise a bit.
White-tailed Deer are North America’s smallest deer. They are very fleet-footed capable of speeds up to 30mph and able to leap as high as 10 feet and as far as 30 feet in a single bound. It isn’t often that they will stay and pose for pictures so I was happy that this guy gave me the opportunity.